Alyx stood in front of the building, staring at the door in the late morning sun. Stylish
sunglasses covered tired bloodshot eyes. Her hair glowed like a sunset, falling in gently curling
waves down her back. Her jeans and t-shirt were comfortably broken in and reflected her mood:
black. She 'd had no sleep, having spent the night on the window ledge behind her bed staring out
at a world she no longer felt a part of.
When she did finally screw up the energy to head into work, it was without any enthusiasm at all.
She could sense an impending attack of severe hypersensitivity and was doing her best to hold it
off until she managed to get out of the Keep later this morning. As had often occurred lately;
however, fate decreed otherwise.
She was in the hallway outside the Keep when all of her senses went haywire. She backed into the
wall and slid down it, trying to sort through the incoming signals. Her sense of touch was suddenly
so strong she could almost taste the way the floor felt through the palm of her hand. She could
smell everything that had happened in this hallway for the last week. Old cigarette smoke, perfume,
ammonia and bleach, people--gods, dozens of them--some of whom she recognized, old stale paint in a
variety of colors.
She closed her eyes after her focus kept shifting from normal to super focused. She really didn't
need to see every pock-mark and crater on the wall across from her. Being able to hear every
individual breathing for on the three floors above her didn't help much either. Typing on
keyboards, papers being shuffled, voices, dozens of them. On and on and on. It was too much all at
once. Usually only one sense would do this at a time and that she could handle, but this, this was
overwhelming and hurt almost as much as when she would lose her shielding and have a room full of
people in her head.
'Pattern.' she thought to herself. 'It's the same control, just over something new.'
It was Darien who found her sitting in the hallway, hands over her ears, eyes closed, rocking back
and forth, and looking very unhappy. He moved to her side, not entirely sure what to do. "Alyx?"
She opened her eyes at his voice, somehow keeping herself from flinching away at its apparent
volume. "Keep," she said, trying to focus on just one thing.
When he reached out to touch her she did flinch away, violently, nearly ending up on her side on
the floor.
"Don't touch me. Just get the Keeper." She was nearly begging now.
Darien didn't have to. Claire had heard just enough of what was going on and arrived in seconds
with a syringe. She injected the contents into Alyx's arm quickly before she could react. Even so,
the syringe ended up flying across the hallway to smash itself into the wall.
"You know I hate shots." The effects of the drug were swift. It was like thick fog was placed
between her mind and the rest of reality. All of her senses, while not returning to normal, dulled
and became bearable. "Gods," Alyx whispered, the relief in her voice evident.
"Why didn't you say anything to me?" the Keeper asked, helping Alyx to her feet. "I am your Keeper,
you know."
Alyx shrugged. "The truth? I didn't want to give you people any more control over me than you
already have." She was feeling a bit off kilter. The drug seemed stronger than usual. It was
variation of the inhibitor they had used to keep her powers from running wild without all the
wonderful narcotics that had kept her docile. Drugs she'd become addicted to rather quickly. They
had only needed to use this version a couple of times since she had arrived, thankfully.
"Let's get you inside," Claire said. When Darien tried to help again, Alyx shifted away quickly.
Claire couldn't help but notice and gave Darien a sympathetic look. She wasn't sure what was going
on between the two of them, and right now she didn't have the time to figure it out.
"Not more tests? All those wires. Stupid beeping monitors." Alyx's head spun. The drug was working
overtime today.
The Keeper supported Alyx through the doorway of the lab and Darien trailed along behind, feeling
mildly upset and confused. Why was it only him she shoved away that hard?
With help, Alyx managed to climb onto the exam table and groggily say, "What did you do? Up the
dosage?"
Attaching electrodes to the young woman's brow she replied. "No. Same dosage as always." She
glanced over Alyx's slight frame. "You've lost more weight haven't you?"
"You keep track of that, not me," was the irritated answer.
"You don't eat, don't sleep. You can't sit still for five minutes, and you decide to develop new
abilities without checking with me first." The Keeper admonished adjusting the monitors. "What am
I supposed to do with you?"
"You mean this isn't your life's goal?" Alyx sniped, jiggling the collection of wires hooked to her.
Ignoring the jibe, the Keeper said. "Your readings are all out of whack. Relax and let's see if you
can't give me a nice alpha wave."
Growling under her breath, Alyx closed her eyes and did her best to comply.
"See, I'm not the only one who's difficult," Darien stated sitting on a nearby chair. A large
portion of their conversation had sounded very familiar to him.
"She's got reasons to be difficult. The experiment didn't quite work as planned and she's stuck
trying to deal with the results," was the Keeper's quick reply. "What they did was the equivalent
of making her go through puberty and into adolescence all over again. She went from being a grown
woman to a teenager, with all its attendant problems." She turned to him, "Do you remember what it
was like, being sixteen?"
"Hell, yes," he said, a grin spreading across his face at some of the memories the question
triggered. Then more memories surfaced, less pleasant memories of what it had been like at that
age, and his smile faded. "Oh."
"Oh, indeed," the Keeper agreed.
"So she's dealing with all that typical teenage crap along with the fun toys you guys gave her?"
Darien asked with a smile. "No wonder she's in such a good mood all the time."
"I am in the room you know," Alyx growled from the table. She finally had some measure of control
thanks to the drugs and was not in the mood to be talked about while she was still within earshot.
The Keeper looked at the monitors. "Better," she observed. "Now think you can tell me what is going
on?"
"Hypersensitivity. All my senses. I don't quite have control yet, so sometimes..." She shrugged.
"How sensitive?" The Keeper asked, curious.
"Extremely. I could probably tell you every chemical you've had open in here for the last month by
the smell alone. I can read most print by feel. You really don't want to know about my hearing and
sight." Alyx closed her eyes.
"Yes I do," Claire said looking at the monitors.
"How about I can see in almost pitch darkness? Can focus on items, oh, half a mile away, easy."
Alyx sounded so tired, and not just because of the drugs.
"I can vouch for that last one," Darien commented, remembering her little trick on their one
mission together. "This is what happened at breakfast that day isn't it?"
Alyx nodded. "My sense of smell went haywire."
"Well, I'm not surprised. At least this explains why your test results have been so weird lately.
Your brain has decided to change the rules yet again," Claire commented with no irritation. She
actually found this rather fascinating. "You'll gain control, it'll just take time. When did this
start anyway?"
"Shortly before they transferred me out here, but they were keeping me so drugged, there wasn't
much I could do about it." Alyx opened her eyes, finally having some sort of control over the
situation.
"Well, your life just keeps getting more and more interesting now doesn't it?" Claire commented.
Alyx began yanking the electrodes from her skin. "I'll deal. Same as always." She started to get up
and was gently pushed back.
"Not yet, you don't. I want to check that hole in you while I have you here. Now, roll onto your
side," the Keeper said firmly.
Alyx grumbled but did as she was asked. With deft movements the Keeper slid up the shirt, removed
the bandages, and gently examined the wounds. The damage left by the bullet was a hole the size of
a quarter, both front and back, just above her right hip. The skin still had that raw look to it.
The bruised area was about three times as large and still a deep purple color. Alyx held herself
still doing her best not to flinch during the examination.
Darien whistled. "Impressive." He remembered her hitting her counter edge last night and wondered
how she could even walk.
"Painful," Alyx replied with a sigh. She really didn't need to be reminded about it.
"And healing quite well, I must say," the Keeper said as she began to apply new bandages to the
wound. "And remarkably fast. If you have any scarring it should be minor."
"What, no eternal, ass-saving, reminders? I'm disappointed," Alyx said sarcastically.
"Perish the thought. Something so horrible would not dare to remain upon such fair flesh," Darien
said with a flourish. Sometimes his mouth didn't ask his brain permission and just started to run
on its own. The look Claire gave him was one of total astonishment, but it was Alyx's look that got
his attention. Totally expressionless.
"Don't start," Alyx said, her tone verging on anger. "Remember our discussion."
Claire watched as Darien nodded stiffly, completely at a loss as to what was going on. The two of
them had obviously talked about something, with the end result being something Darien was not
overly happy with. Claire applied a new bandage, for the sole purpose of adding an extra layer of
protection. The wound was actually healed enough to go without. "I'm putting you back on light
duty," Claire said to her as she cleaned up from the examination. "No more lazing about your
apartment."
Alyx snorted. "Lazing about, right." Then she glanced at Darien and sighed. "Guess I should inform
the boss. He must have something for me to do. Can't see him wasting a useful tool." With slumped
shoulders she walked out of the lab.
Claire turned to Darien. "You are going after her, aren't you?"
Darien shook his head. "No. I'm not."
Alyx quietly walked down the hall and knocked on the Official's office door. At the muffled "Come
in," she opened the door and strode into the room.
"Good of you to stop by. I have something to show you." the Official said waving to Eberts. After a
moment of searching, Eberts picked up a file and handed it to her. Opening it, she found several
slightly out-of-focus photos, obviously taken with a telephoto lens. She recognized not only the
person in the photos but the location as well. As she looked through the dozen or so pictures she
felt a growing dismay and anger.
"Why? What do you want from me now?" She said trying to keep her voice calm. Was he going back on
their deal already? Trying to squeeze her for something else? She felt herself sink even deeper
into despair.
"Those aren't our photos," the Official said. "We discovered those while investigating another
matter."
"So why show them to me? Sadistic pleasure?" Alyx commented, unable to keep an edge of anger out of
her voice.
"No," was the reply. "I thought it might make a good reminder of our agreement."
"I haven't forgotten," she growled. How could she forget? It was the only reason she was still here.
"Good. Keep it that way," the Official said in a cold voice.
Eberts removed the file from Alyx's unresisting hold. "You're still on inactive duty till the
Keeper clears you. Check in with her before you leave," he said in that perfectly calm voice of his.
"Fine," Alyx replied as she turned to leave the room. It was obvious that the Keeper hadn't yet
informed them of her upgrade to light duty, and she intended to take advantage of that lapse. Once
outside the office door, her mask dropped. Anger and a bone-deep sadness washed across her
features. Making a possibly foolish decision, Alyx bolted from the building.
The Official turned to Eberts. "I think all the pieces will soon be in place."
"Yes, sir," Eberts replied. The photos that were now spread across the desk looked eerily
familiar; each and every was of Alyx's youngest child.
She hadn't quite made it out the front door when Darien caught up with her. He'd been looking for
Hobbes when he saw her running for the lobby of the building. "Alyx, what's wrong?"
She didn't even glance his way and continued towards the exit. She didn't want anything or anyone
to interfere, especially Darien.
Running lightly, he caught up with her just inside the front door. "Hey," he repeated, adding a bit
of force. "What's wrong?"
She looked up at him, said, "Nothing," and tried to go past him.
Darien didn't believe her for a second. Her face was dead pale and her eyes red and raw-looking.
Grasping her lightly by her upper arm, he held her in place. "Right. What's wrong?"
Jerking her arm from his grasp she growled, "I said 'Nothing.' Get out of my way."
She shoved the door open and ran out into the sunlight. Darien followed and caught up with her
again halfway down the block.
Once again he grabbed her, this time spinning her around to face him, "What's going on Alyx?"
"Let go of me," she growled at him. Now she was getting angry at him, too. Why wouldn't he get the
hint? All she wanted was to be alone. Especially now.
"Not until you tell me what's wrong," he said, seriously beginning to worry. He knew she was
getting angry, but something must have set her off. He'd never seen her this upset, this lost.
"None of your damn business," she shouted, trying to pull away.
Darien just held on tighter, refusing to let her escape. He thought he was trying to help. He could
tell something was seriously upsetting her.
"I'm warning you, let go." Her voice had gone dead cold. She hated to do this, but it was looking
like the only way he would get the hint.
"Not until you talk," he said, getting a bit angry himself.
Alyx pushed him with her mind, lifting him up and slamming him into the side of a nearby building.
Holding him there, she let the quicksilver effect take over. When the world went monochrome, she
bolted for her bicycle, which she no longer stored in the Keep. She did her best to avoid any and
all contact these days and she had found a secure place to store her bike and gear just down the street.
All Darien knew was that one moment he had been holding Alyx and the next he was seeing stars. His
head ached from the impact with the wall. He looked down at Alyx, realizing he was hanging about
five feet in the air. As the quicksilver began to coat her body, he struggled to get free and found
he could move nothing. It was several minutes before he felt her grip loosen and dropped to the
sidewalk. 'So that's what it feels like,' was all his stunned mind could come up with. Then, 'What
the hell did they do to her now?'
Heading back to the office, ignoring the headache the impact with the brick wall had caused, he
found Hobbes looking for him. "C'mon, Fawkes, the boss wants to see us."
Darien trailed along. He debated for an instant about asking Hobbes if he knew what might have set
Alyx off, but realized with a sigh that Bobby wouldn't care. When they walked into the office, the
Official had a smug little smile on his face.
"Sit," he said to them.
Darien and Hobbes looked at one another and then complied, each wondering what the Fat Man had for
them this time. "Anything interesting?" Hobbes spoke for the two of them.
"Interesting? Of course. Some poachers on protected land that you are going to go catch for us."
The Official answered. "Not just interesting, but exciting."
"So, what is it you sent Alyx to do?" Darien asked with a bit of suspicion.
Hobbes groaned.
"She's should be down with the Keeper. She's still on inactive duty," Eberts commented.
"No she's not. Keeper cleared her for light duty a little while ago. Just before she went tearing
out of here in fact. Didn't she tell you?" Darien had the feeling he was missing something and he
didn't like it one bit.
"It is none of your concern." The Official said in a tone that discouraged any argument. "Eberts."
Eberts handed each of them a slim file.
Alyx tore through her closet, packing a few days worth of clothes. Deal or no deal, she was going.
Surveying her apartment for what might be the last time, Alyx closed the door with no regrets and
headed for her car. The one she'd purchased just a few days ago for no obvious reason at the time,
but now it was turning out to be a wise thing. She tossed her backpack and duffel bag into the
older silver Jaguar convertible and climbed in. Thank god she knew how to drive a stick shift, even
if it had been a while.
She couldn't believe the gall of the man. To show her those photos and expect her to do nothing. He
obviously was not going to hold up his end of the deal yet he expected her to keep her end of the
agreement? The Official must be completely off his rocker if he thought that would happen. She
might not be able to go back to who she was, but that didn't mean that wasn't where her heart and
loyalty truly lay. She would do anything, and she did mean anything, to fix this situation. No cost
would be too high.
That didn't mean this didn't hurt. She hadn't wanted to do that to Darien, but she didn't want him
to interfere either. This was going to get her into so much trouble with the Official and she
didn't want to bring anyone else down with her. Reacting violently, the way she had, frightened
her. She'd never been like that before. Protective, yes. Violent, no. Now she was more confused
than ever.
Alyx figured if she didn't sleep she could be there in two days, three tops. She hadn't gone to the
airport, figuring that would be the first place they'd look for her. Once she had disabled the
tracking device she had expected to find on the car, she started the engine and left. She knew she
could lose herself in traffic. Soon she'd just be another vehicle driving towards the dawn.
"You do realize this is just to distract us, don't you?" Darien said from the passenger seat where
he was slumped down with a frown on his face.
"What are you talking about, Fawkes?" Hobbes said as looked out the side window with the
binoculars. The guys they were after were still in the cabin downhill from them, They had been
there for hours. Even Hobbes was beginning to get bored.
"We've been out here three days waiting for these guys to do something. You even had me check the
place out, and unless they have a hidden room that they're keeping the bodies and the stuff to deal
with them in, the boss has sent us on another snipe hunt." Darien was more than a little irritated.
Claire had no idea where Alyx was and was becoming increasingly worried about her. Darien had even
gone so far as to break into her place, and as near as he could tell she'd taken off with little or
nothing.
He'd confronted the Official, only to be told it was none of his concern, again. Which really
ticked him off considering she'd been dumped in their laps as their partner. When he pointed this
out to the Official, all Darien got was a glare and an order to get back to work on the poachers.
Near as he and Hobbes could tell, the only thing these guys were guilty of poaching was eggs.
"Fawkes, you're not going to start in about the kid again are you?" Hobbes groaned and looked at
his partner.
"Hobbes, give me a break. She hasn't been seen in days and she's supposed to be checking in with
the Keep daily. Claire's worried about her, and the Official isn't." Darien looked at him. "You
tell me what it means." He somehow kept his voice neutral throughout.
"Why the hell do you care so damn much Fawkes?" Hobbes complained. He was just as happy to have
her gone and didn't want to think about why. Didn't care why.
Darien went for the only weapon he might have in this situation. "I thought Bobby Hobbes didn't
bail on his partner?"
"Of course not, Fawkes. I've stuck by you through all sorts of crap." Hobbes sounded almost
offended by Darien's comment.
"But not Alyx? Last time I checked she was 'our' partner." Darien kept his voice quiet. He wanted
Hobbes to solve his problems with Alyx on his own as much as possible. If he couldn't be at least
civil to her, they would have some serious problems when it came time to work together.
Hobbes began to grumble and mutter to himself. "Damn it, Fawkes, that's not fair. I didn't ask for
or want another partner. It took long enough to get used to you."
"And how often to we get what we want working for the Agency?" Darien countered a bit ruefully.
Hobbes snorted with laughter. "Try never. Oh..." He paused. "How much of this is about the fact
you got a thing for her?"
Darien considered the question seriously, and decided that his feelings for Alyx, no matter how
vague and undefined at this point, didn't really make a difference. "Do you let how you feel about
Claire interfere with work?"
"Hell no." Hobbes let out before he could stop himself. "Not that there's anything there, mind
you, but if there was, not that I'm admitting anything, 'cause there isn't, I wouldn't let it
interfere with work." He finally wound down, hoping Fawkes understood what he was trying to say.
"I think I can manage to do the same," Darien said quietly. He glanced out the window and whistled.
"Our friends have company."
"And here we were, talking about women. Damn it." Hobbes lifted the binoculars and focused on the
new arrivals below them. "Fawkes, I understand what you're tying to say and if...when...when the
kid gets back, I'll try and remember it."
"Thanks, Bobby." Darien said. "Now what are our friends doing down there."
Hobbes wasn't sure at first and refocused the glasses to make sure. "They're digging, from the
looks of it. About a thirty feet west of the cabin." When one of them bent down and seemed to pull
the ground open he swore under his breath. "No wonder you didn't find anything in the house. The
hidden room was outside." He lowered the glasses. "Feel up to a little snooping?"
"Always, my friend." He opened the door and slipped outside. Hobbes handed him a headset which he
slipped in place.
"Be careful." Hobbes said heading in back to the monitoring equipment.
"Yeah, yeah." Darien ambled off, quicksilvering as he went. "Like I haven't done this before," he
muttered into the headset.
"Fawkes shut up and check the place out, would you." Hobbes sounded far more amused than angry.
After all this time they knew each other pretty well, and trading banter at a time like this was
pretty normal. Darien still wasn't a hundred percent comfortable doing this stuff, although he had
gotten used to it as time passed.
He made his way down past the cabin to the open door lying amongst the leaves and grass. It was
designed along the lines of a storm cellar: a strong metal door with a concrete frame. Under the
door, a dozen steps led down to a corridor about ten feet long. At the end, the passage opened out
into an impressively sized room. Darien looked around, noticing all the gear, as well as the
remains of several animals. That would indeed prove they were hunters at the very least. It was the
other equipment, however, that really got his attention. Apparently the poachers had a side business
as drug dealers. They apparently dealt in quantity as well as variety.
Backing out of the room, he whispered into his headset. "We're gonna need back-up, Hobbes. They've
got an entire pharmacy in here."
"Fawkes, we don't have time to wait for back-up. You always claim to be so smart. Think of
something," Hobbes snapped at him.
Darien looked up the corridor towards the door and then back at the room. If he was lucky, they
wouldn't notice until it was too late. Going back outside, he closed the door gently behind him and
then walked over to one of the visitor's trucks and climbed inside.
"What the hell are you doing Fawkes? We're supposed to catch them, not go for a joy ride," Hobbes
complained at him.
"I thought of something." With deft fingers, he pulled out the wire grouping he wanted and within
moments had the engine of the truck started. Putting it into gear he drove the truck over to the
closed door and parked one of the wheels on top of it. "Think that'll hold them till back-up
arrives?" Darien climbed out of the truck and desilvered.
"Fawkes, sometimes you're almost as smart as you think you are," Hobbes said with a laugh. The
mirth was cut short by a gunshot coming from the house. "Ah, crap. I'm on my way, partner."
Darien dove back behind the truck, hoping like hell Hobbes would hurry. There were times he really
wished he carried a gun, and this happened to be one of them. He could hear the guys down in the
storm cellar banging on the door, but unless they had one really strong son of a bitch in there,
they were good and stuck.
Hobbes made it down to the vehicles parked in front of the cabin and went into his routine.
"Federal agent! Drop your weapon!"
The answer was a couple of gunshots aimed in his direction.
"What is it about the words 'federal agent' that inspires gunfire?" Hobbes muttered. "Last warning!
Drop your weapon and surrender," Hobbes tried again and got pretty much the same response.
Darien listened to the exchange and couldn't help but chuckle. Some days, no one listened to poor
Bobby Hobbes. Checking his monitor, he decided he had more than enough time left to give Hobbes an
assist. Quicksilvering, he headed around the back of the cabin, figuring he should be able to make
his way in through there. He found a back window open and climbed inside, finding himself in a
bedroom. Looking about, he found a rather ugly-looking lamp and picked it up. He quicksilvered it
as well and made his way towards the front of the house.
The guy wasn't hard to find, seeing as he was still taking potshots at Hobbes as well as muttering
to himself. Darien walked up behind him and smashed the lamp into the back of his head, knocking
him unconscious. Desilvering he knelt to make sure the guy would survive and picked up the gun.
"It's clear Hobbes." He shouted out the window the guy had been shooting from.
Hobbes cautiously made his way to the cabin and let himself in the front door, to find Fawkes
standing in the center of the room holding the guy's rifle. "Took you long enough."
"Yeah, well I thought you might want to have some of the fun." Darien commented with a wry smile.
That's when the second guy came around the corner from the kitchen with his handgun aimed at Darien.
"Fawkes, down." Hobbes shouted as he took aim and fired at the guy, even as the guy fired at
Darien.
Darien would swear later he felt the bullet pass right by him as he fell. Hobbes' aim was perfect,
as always, and the guy, a kid of about sixteen as it turned out, dropped to the floor with a bullet
buried in his shoulder. Hobbes kicked his gun away and immobilized him. He wasn't going anywhere.
"Well, that was too close," Darien complained, getting to his feet.
"You're not kidding," Hobbes commented as he came over and fingered the crease the bullet had made
in the tan leather jacket Darien wore.
"What?" Darien pulled off the jacket and looked at it. "Damn, and I like this jacket," he
complained.
"Better the jacket than you, buddy," Hobbes said as he pulled out his cell phone to call for a
little help in bringing these guys in, as well as for an ambulance. It looked like the kid he'd
shot was going to need one.
A couple hours later Darien was sitting down in the Keep waiting as Claire prepared a shot of
counteragent for him. He was looking at the jacket, fingering the lovely burn mark that marred the
right shoulder. That one was too close. Made him kind of wish Alyx had been there with them. First
off, she would have known there was someone else in the house, and second, he knew she was fully
capable of stopping bullets in mid air. He didn't claim to understand how she did it, but he'd seen
her do it with his own eyes.
"Bit closer than you like, I imagine," Claire commented pointing at the jacket. She swabbed the
crook of his elbow and injected him with the counteragent. For a change the initial pain wasn't
nearly as bad as it sometimes was.
"Have you heard anything?" he asked as she removed the needle.
She shook her head. "And I don't like it." She walked over to the lab bench to take care of the
syringe. "I can't even get the Official to tell me what's going on. Have you found out anything?"
Darien sat up. "She didn't take much with her when she left. Maybe some clothes and that's all."
"Darien, she wouldn't appreciate you going through her place," Claire admonished.
"I know, but I was worried." Darien said trying to defend himself. "I'd do the same if it was you
or Bobby."
"An odd way to show you care, but the sentiment is greatly appreciated." Claire walked back over to
him. "We know the Official is up to something, we just have to be patient. He's not likely to just
let her wander off."
Darien snorted. "You're right." He ran his hand through his hair, feeling tired.
"Go home, Darien. I'll see you tomorrow," Claire said patting him on the arm.
His slid off the chair. "Yeah, home." To his empty apartment, to worry about Alyx and exactly how
close he came to taking a bullet today. And he really liked this jacket.